Before returning to home sweet home in California, I wanted to have one last trip…to myself. Inspired by all the solo travelers I met in Berlin and encouraged by the good things I heard about Budapest, I broke it to my mom that whether she liked it or not I was going on a solo trip to Budapest. I was exhilarated and slightly terrified at the same time. It was one thing going to Madrid to study abroad without knowing anyone, but it was another thing staying at a hostel for five nights alone, not knowing anyone. Ok, so it’s basically the same thing but, regardless, I was nervous. I knew it could either go badly (I could be a sad loner) or it could go really great. Just in case, I contacted my friend who had family in Budapest. She gave me a few tips on cool spots to visit and common Hungarian phrases I should know. From her tips, I made a list of places I wanted to see (I wanted to be fully prepared since no one else was there to guide me). Turns out Budapest was the best trip I had during my almost six-month stay in Europe.

With my one of Berlin friend’s advice, I decided to stay at the youth hostel, Carpe Noctum Vitae. After getting my room key (which looked like a watch with a sensor in place of a clock), I decided to drop my stuff off and start my day. I found out from my hostel that there was a free tour meeting in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica in the afternoon. Having some time to kill, I decided to have my first venture out in Budapest and grab some food. I was prepared for a trip of being solo, but I didn’t realize that my lunch outing would be my last outing alone, at least until the very end of my trip.

Having heard that Doner Kebab was just as popular in Budapest as in Berlin, I went in search for my delicious, cheap meal. And to my great satisfaction I found it within five minutes. I realized I was closer to St. Stephen’s Basilica than I thought and arrived to the colored ‘free tour’ umbrellas early. Having about 20 more minutes to kill, I went ahead and entered the basilica. Like the other basilicas in Europe, it was ornately decorated with gold-trimmed walls and ecclesiastical murals.

Figuring I still had time, I decided to climb up to the top of the dome. It cost only about 2 euro when converted from Hungarian currency, so I thought, why not? Climbing to the top took longer than I thought. By the time I reached the top I realized I was going to be late for the free tour, so after a peak at the gorgeous panoramic view and a few snapshots, I ran back down to the umbrellas. Luckily the tour was still standing near the meeting spot, even though the tour had already began.

Our tour was full of interesting facts (almost too many facts for me to comprehend all at once). First of all, Budapest is pronounced as Budapesht. In Hungarian, an s and a t together make a sh sound. According to our tour guide, Hungarian is actually one of the hardest languages to learn and can take up to ten years of learning for a person to become remotely fluent, but less if that person moved to and lived in Hungary. Another interesting thing is that the river Danube separates two parts of Budapest – Buda and Pest. Buda is home to Buda Castle, mansions, and the older parts of the city (it even has an old town) whereas Pest is home to the Parliament, ruin bars, and has the more upbeat part of the city (that is where my hostel is located). Lastly we were lucky enough to learn about the best Hungarian foods and its special liquor (I decided to give the liquor a try later). I found out that Kurtoskalács – which is a chimney cake – is the same cinnamon roll that I had while I was in Prague. Actually much of Budapest reminded me of Prague except for Budapest was bigger and much more extraordinary in my opinion.

During our tour through the city, we were introduced to several lucky statues (but they were only lucky if you rubbed a particular part of them). The best lucky statue was of a man on a horse. So what was the lucky part? The horses’ balls of course. A few people in my tour group took the freedom to reach up and rub the horse’s balls for that good luck. I opted out and decided to take a picture of it instead. Our tour guide took us over Chain Bridge – which was Budapest’s first permanent bridge and its most well-known bridge – and then took us up to Buda Castle. Buda Castle had huge grounds, reminding me of the castle in Prague. Beyond the castle we walked into Old Town, which was a cobbled-stoned street winding through cute colored buildings. The area was much more intimidate than the busy streets of Pest side.

Our tour was then led to Matthias Church, which is the most beautiful church I’ve ever seen. The church was so different from the other churches I’ve seen across Europe with its ornate little white-stoned spires, accompanied by colorfully patterned tiles on the rooftop. I couldn’t get over how unique it was. Reaching the end of the tour, I rushed back to the Pest side with my new friends (turns out most of the tour was staying at the same hostel as me!). We needed to get back in time for an event our hostel was taking us to. That’s one of the pluses of staying at this hostel – they had something for you to do every night.

That night our hostel was taking everyone out on a boat party. But it wasn’t just about the fun that night. Our boat was going to pass by Buda Castle, Chain Bridge, and the Parliament, all of which were lit up at night. Passing the by the Parliament on a boat my first night in Budapest was especially magical. The building itself is incredible, so seeing it all lit up like gold was amazing. It was the perfect way to end my first day in Budapest.